FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The field of the invention is dry powder storage devices and systems for powdered drugs.
Various drugs in a dry powder mixture form may be inhaled directly into the lungs, through the mouth or nose. Inhalation allows the drug to bypass the digestive system and may eliminate the need for other more interventional drug application techniques, e.g., hypodermic injections, etc. Direct inhalation, can in some cases, allow smaller doses of a drug to be used to achieve the same desired results as the same drug taken orally. In other cases, inhalation can help to avoid undesirable side effects.
To provide for direct inhalation of a powdered drug, various dry powder inhalers have been used. These dry powder inhalers typically deliver dry powder from a bulk reservoir, capsule, or blister package, for inhalation by the patient. For sealing the powdered drug from the environment (to reduce caking, contamination, etc.), individual discrete sealed dose containers, such as blisters are preferred. However, while various blister dry powder storage and delivery devices have been used, various disadvantages remain. For example, the blister must be strong enough to provide a good seal against the environment, but also be able to reliably release the drug powder when used by the patient. In addition, to better provide accurate doses, virtually of the drug powder must be released from the blister into the inhalation device, without, of course, allowing any of the blister or container material mix with or flow out with the drug powder. As inhaled drugs, such as asthma drugs, may be used very frequently, the drug storage and delivery materials and device should advantageously be compact, low cost and easy to manufacture and use.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide an improved dry powder storage and delivery system, for use with an inhaler.